Süddeutsche Zeitung (February 18th, 2022) :
What do you think nowadays about the Club of Rome? (...)
Meadows:
"I grew older. More and more I understood that most people rather do not need that I have an opinion of them. So it is irrelevant for me, what the Club of Rome thinks about me, and I am sure , that they do not bother what I think of them, so I did not trouble myself to form an opinion."
and:
"One of the guiding principles (maxims) of my life is:
"Play the cards you've got, instead of wishing you had got different ones."
(The article was in German, so I hope my translation to be correct).
One of the main causes of stress is worrying about things you have no control over.
ReplyDeleteTrue, Tasker - but sometimes it is really difficult to find out which things one can control and which not.
DeleteNot sure about all this dear - must be something European!
ReplyDeleteEconomic Collapse perhaps?
Right now, the world is in such a sorry state - anything might collapse! So sad and very worrisome. I don't play cards ever BTW!!!!
Dear Mary, for 18 years he was a professor the State University of New Hampshire, and is now about 80 years old, living in Durham. Fit as a fiddle, a bit pessimistic - 50 years ago he wrote that Book "The Limits to Growth" - and of course he was right, but people didn't like to hear that, so his influence was not that big. He wrote about population growth, limited resources, influence of climate etc.
DeleteBWT - what does that mean? I( can - but do not - play cards).
Your post reminded me of the Peter principle: People rise to their level of incompetence.
ReplyDeleteWe see this all the time.
no
if this is to be
Dear Susan, if we look around among politicians I heartily agree with you! And of course not only there - awful is when incompetence & power & claqueurs (!) come together, and empathy is forgotten, and people think they are God's present to mankind.
DeleteThe only person that we personally have known who was a member of The Club of Rome was Elisabeth Mann-Borgese, the daughter of Thomas Mann.
ReplyDeleteThat is great, Rosemary - I only heard that she was a foundation member of the Club of Rome. When I lived in Hamburg I saw the ITLOS there - and she worked on International Sea Law. We hear too little about those gifted women, who could be role models.
DeleteElizabeth was an ambassador for marine environment protection worldwide. My husband was the environmental expert at the UN's International Martime Organisation, and worked beside her at various conferences and events. We both visited her at her home in Nova Scotia where she was a Prof at Dalhousie University. She had a great charisma, and campaigned tirelessly for what she believed in.
DeleteTo meet such a woman must be terrific! I do love people who have zeal and a "mission" - and, as you say: charisma.
DeleteHis are wise words, dear Britta, and nearly everyone who gets old enough all comes to the same conclusion! But I'm confused as to why he strikes a negative tone talking about the Club of Rome? I've not been following their recent pronouncements since I'm tending mostly to be looking back not forward, but I applaud Amateur Associations like theirs. It worked wonders for the Victorians!
ReplyDeleteAs I understand, the Club of Rome, as commissioners to The Limits to Growth, are right behind Mr. Meadows. It was mostly outraged economists who took umbrage with their pseudo-science being shown up. (Nota bene: I've not read it so am spouting forth with ill-formed opinion, haha, but it's sitting on my pile, for who hasn't been talking about this book lately?) I have been reading Ugo Bardi's blog, The Seneca Effect, and I've not noticed anything off key from the End-is-Nigh-Message there.
Dear Pip, I read the interview with Meadows again, and then two other articles - yet there was never a clear answer to find why he is no longer in the Club of Rome. "The public debate happened most widely without me, because people wouldn't listen to my opinion but had their own", he said - so I think he is disappointed that his book was sold in about 30 million copies, but did not change much.
DeleteHe speaks of the importance of "resilience" - he does not believe that sustainability will change a lot - it is too late. Interesting I find his conviction that mankind does not have only one problem but many, and when one is solved there will turn up another.
He believes that this planet will exist a long time, "some hundred million years", but the lifestyle of our western civilisation is doomed. To mankind he says: "We have to deal with an animal, that is not capable to make a short-dated sacrifice for a long-dated benefit." "The greatest problem is that we compare growth with success."
"Change of climate is not a problem, it is a symptom."
Well, his thoughts are interesting, but though he says otherwise I do not believe he is a happy man.
Know when to hold 'em
ReplyDeleteKnow when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
Know when to run...
I always enjoyed card games, but gambling terrified me.
Wow, Joanne! I know some card game.
DeleteGambling in any obsessive form terrifies me - horses, cards or roulette... i never met a gambler personally - but read Dostoevsky very early.
I wish I could decide not to have an opinion about some things.
ReplyDeleteYour wish will NOT be fulfilled, I guess. (And wouldn't it be dull if?)
DeleteLet me pun twice on "play the cards you've got" and "Club of Rome".
ReplyDeleteI always played Bridge, but during covid lockdowns, I played it much more often. Bridge on line saved the mind!
Club, diamond, heart and spade. Simple yet brilliant! The first designer of suits should be sitting in heaven, delighted with the joy he/she brought to the world.
Dear Helen, Bridge always seemed complicated to me - though I never tried (if I play I like quick games like poker). Online I sometimes play Solitaire, (when I have to wait for something) but never in real life with cards.
DeleteAs to the pun of suits - I am lost. Do you hint at the TV "Suits" - or "law-suits"? Or is it a card game?
There are 4 suits in a pack of cards ~ hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. Cleverly designed, no?
DeleteOh - now I do understand, Helen, thank you! This woman thought (deep down in her heart) - of course - more of of fashion :-)
DeleteSome opinions are best kept to oneself are they not Britta?
ReplyDeleteI love that, Rachel - yes, sometimes it is wiser :-) xxx
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